Verizon Wireless to Offer Open Access to Network — Companies Featured in This Article: Google, Sprint Nextel, Deutsche Telekom, AT&T, Verizon Communications, Vodafone Group, Microsoft, Research in Motion — Verizon Wireless said Tuesday that it would allow any device or software to run …

Why Verizon Went Open & What It Means — The about-face taken by Verizon Wireless today when it said it will open up its network and platform is, at first blush, a good thing for consumers and developers. But I just got off the company's conference call, and there are certain details that have left me with eyebrows raised.

Google Plans Service to Store Users' Data — Google Inc. wants to offer consumers a new way to store their files on its hard drives, in a strategy that could accelerate a shift to Web-based computing and intensify the Internet company's competition with Microsoft Corp.

Google Says Goodbye To Coal, Creates R&D Group — Google wants to save the world, and the company isn't going about it in a halfhearted manner; according to a new announcement, Google will put hundreds of millions of dollars towards "a new strategic initiative to develop electricity …

Brightcove Gives Up on Consumer Video — Brightcove has never really been more than a half-hearted consumer video play, opting instead to function as a content distribution network for a large number of high profile media partners. Today Brightcove informed members of its Brightcove.TV site …

Widgets make a big splash on the Net — SAN FRANCISCO — For nearly a decade, GarageBand.com was the quintessential struggling Web company, barely hanging on as it burned through $17 million. — Until widgets. — Since it developed a widget, one of the mini-Web applications now flourishing …

New Terrain Layer in Google Maps — There's a new tab in Google Maps: "terrain". The view combines street maps with visual information about terrains. Elevation data is not limited to geographic features like mountains, but it's also displayed for buildings.

How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook — Columnist Cory Doctorow describes how Facebook and other social networks have built-in self-destructs: They make it easy for you to be found by the people you're looking to avoid. — Facebook's "platform" strategy has sparked much online debate and controversy.

Another Inconvenient Truth: Al Gore's Web Site Hacked — A blog set up to promote former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth," has been hacked. — Recommend this story? — A blog set up to promote former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth …